1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (hereinafter abbreviated as “OFDM”) signal transmission system, and particularly to a data structure of pilot signals employed in an MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) system using a transmitting device equipped with a plurality of antennas and a receiving device equipped with a plurality of antennas, and an OFDM transmission system using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A patent document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-96186) discloses a conventional data structure of pilot signals and an OFDM transmission system using the same. In the patent document 1, an intermittent pilot system has been disclosed in the OFDM signal transmission system. Here, the pilot signals are used to know or recognize transfer functions from antennas on the transmitting side to antennas on the receiving side.
According to the patent document 1, the intermittent pilot system aims to handle pilot signals of a radio wave 2 as null signals without transmitting the pilot signals thereof when a radio wave 1 sends pilot signals. That is, the pilot signals transmitted from the respective radio waves are transmitted so as not to overlap on a time base.
Since, however, the conventional data structure of pilot signals and the OFDM transmission system using the same adopt the intermittent pilot system, a receiving device is capable of receiving pilot signals only at the rate of once per several times. When the peripheral environments of a transmitting device and the receiving device remain absolutely unchanged, it is profitable for the system because the estimation of each transmission line remains unchanged even if the pilot signals are received at the rate of once per several times. However, there may be cases in which after reception of the pilot signals, one of the devices moves or such an obstacle as to cause a multipath different from the previous one moves to a transmission line between the transmitting device and the receiving device under actual operating environments. In this case, a problem arises in that the transmission line cannot be accurately estimated under the use of the previously received pilot signals, and the corresponding signal cannot be accurately demodulated by the receiving device.
In the conventional data structure of pilot signals and the OFDM transmission system using the same, when transmission/reception is performed using P antennas, P pilot signals cannot be obtained so long as transmit data is not received P times. Thus, a problem arises in that it takes time to estimate the transmission line at the early stage of communication.
The conventional data structure of pilot signals and the OFDM transmission system using the same are not configured on the assumption that since the pilot signals are originally set so as not to overlap each other on the time base, they might overlap each other on the time base depending on changes in operating environment. Therefore, a problem arises in that when the pilot signals overlap each other on the time base depending on the changes in operating environment, a desired pilot signal cannot be extracted.
When the conventional data structure of pilot signals and the OFDM transmission system using the same are simply configured so as to always send the pilot signals, a desired pilot signal cannot be extracted due to interference between the mutual pilot signals.